The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the worsening poverty index in Nigeria poses a great deal of risk to the country’s democratic process and security.
Acknowledging that the COVID-19 pandemic and the unprecedented collapse in crude oil prices impacted most macroeconomic variables, the LCCI said it reviewed the country’s economic performance in 2015 against 2019 for a fair assessment and comparative analysis.
The chamber further mentioned that yardsticks including FDI, balance of trade, and exchange rate were driven to a significant extent by the direction of crude oil prices, an exogenous variable beyond the control of economic managers and policy makers’.
During periods of shocks in the global energy markets, most macro indicators are thrown into negative territory.
hence the statement reckons Performance was negative in the following areas and not limited to GDP growth, inflation, FDI, public debt, stock market’s All-Share Index, exchange rate and maximum lending rate.
The chamber says that there was moderate improvement in foreign reserves within the period, adding that this could be ascribed to favourable oil prices.
